I can see a tendency of much wider use of IM than emails among the youngsters.
It can be Windows Messenger, ICQ or Skype, but the Generation Y reach for it much sooner than opening an email program.
The messages are delivered even if a friend is offline and there is a wide range of emoticons available to express feelings in short forms.
And there is a huge advantage of instant messaging: it is silent. Anyone can use it in an open-office without being heard. This characteristic makes this channel
an excellent way of banking customer service, an extension of contact centres. The customer authentication and simple transactions can even be made automatically (like the IVR on phones), and when it comes to explanations or complex transactions then
a contact centre operator can take over the conversation.